Letter: Dissension is a good thing when it’s about our money

Being a newly relocated citizen to Northwestern Arizona, I feel in many ways that I am still in northwest Indiana.

The reason for this sense of déjà vu is that the problems here in Mohave County are the same as those in Indiana including the lack of a skilled workforce, the brain drain, old guard leadership holding on to old ways of thinking, willingness to accept the status quo with the hope something will change (Einstein’s definition of insanity), an airport with poor results, threatened leadership that resorts to personal attacks instead of addressing and facing reality, limited vision due to poor strategic planning, failed execution of strategic planning due to ineffective leadership, high and costly turnover of government employees, the buy-in to the quick fix, and general focus on the trees instead of the forest.

What concerns me here as in Indiana is the old guard comprised of business leaders and elected officials continues to confuse motion with progress and activity with results. Those who are forward-thinking, meaning results driven, face personal attacks.

As I have no bone in this fight other than I wish to see economic prosperity for the entire Mohave County, the personal attacks on Travis Lingenfelter reflect a lack of substance in the issue respective to the Kingman Airport. From an outside perspective, these attacks appear to be more about protecting the status quo.

I guess I should not be surprised because human beings are human beings.

What I would ask others to consider are these three questions:

(1) Why the personal attacks?

(2) What is the rationale or motivation behind those attacks?

(3) When was dissension a bad thing when it comes to discussing the financial impact of economic decisions made by a government where the money is from the taxes paid by its citizens?